Sri Lanka against itself

"Sri Lanka is engaged in an all-out effort to stave off a resolution against it at the ongoing session of the United Nations Human Rights Council at Geneva.

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Sri Lanka against itself: The United States, the prime backer of the resolution, has circulated a draft among the Council's 47 members calling on Colombo to do nothing more than implement the recommendations of its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, as well as to initiate credible investigations into violations of international human rights laws not addressed adequately by the LLRC. "

Sri Lanka must realise that its own interests require it urgently to address these twin bases of national reconciliation. Sadly, its response to the Geneva challenge has been to whip up anti-U.S., anti-West, Sinhala nationalist protests at home, creating an atmosphere of an island under siege.

‘A free man'(s) freedom is not completely empty'

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : ‘A free man'(s) freedom is not completely empty': "Aman Sethi's book lays bare the poverty, exploitation and the persistent insecurity of ‘informality' of the lives of workers."

When right to private defence is wrong

"A police claim of self-defence to justify encounter killings must be held to higher standards of proof as the force is armed and trained for combat."

The “encounter” deaths of five persons suspected of having carried out two bank robberies in Chennai has once again focused attention on the practice of extrajudicial killings in Tamil Nadu. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : When right to private defence is wrong

In all cases of encounter deaths, the practice is to claim that the killings were done in self-defence. The right of private defence is available to all, and no distinction is made between the police and layman.

Family members of the deceased or human rights activists who wish to reopen suspected cases of false encounter find it an uphill task to get even a death certificate or post-mortem report and are thwarted at every stage, often facing threats to their life.

Though National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a series of guidelines in 2003, the commission now seems to be condoning such violence.

‘If I am not fit to fly, he is not fit to be a pilot'

"Travelling by air is often not a very pleasant experience for a person with disability. Incidents of harassment are quite common when a passenger with disability travels by air on her own or his own."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : ‘If I am not fit to fly, he is not fit to be a pilot': This is an adapted version of a letter sent by Jeeja Ghosh to the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. She is Head of Advocacy and Disability Studies at the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy in Kolkata.

The author was not allowed to fly because of her cerebral palsy — which is not a disease but a condition caused by damage to the brain. This is yet another incident that shows lack of awareness and a humane touch even among the so-called elite and educated people of society.

Time to come out

"The Centre's embarrassing gaffe in the Supreme Court signals one thing clearly — that it will not take a clear and unambiguous position on the issue of decriminalising homosexuality. "
The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Time to come out: The Home Ministry's clarification, which distanced itself from the retrograde and irrational positions staked out by the Additional Solicitor General who “unauthorisedly” represented it, is a classic piece of equivocation.

This fence sitting must end. The state has no right to regulate or ban love or physical intimacy between consenting adults. Why should it be so hard to say that?

Grounding the disabled

"The case of a woman passenger with cerebral palsy rudely deplaned by SpiceJet is a terrible reminder of the distance India still needs to travel in recognising and respecting the human rights of disabled people. "

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Grounding the disabled: It is time the aviation industry got its act together on sensitising its personnel about handling passengers with particular needs.

A major weakness of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, is the absence of a punitive clause. This is arguably the reason why its provisions remain poorly implemented.

India's disability law is up in the air. It is time to bring it down to earth, anchoring it firmly in the terrain of equality that our Constitution envisages for all citizens.

Charged with terror, damned by aliases

"The incredible story of boy ‘terrorist' Mohammad Aamir whose youth was destroyed because of his wrongful arrest and 14-year long incarceration."

Over the following 14 years, the darkness and isolation of Aamir's solitary high-security cell became his world even as the world outside changed unrecognisably. His father, in financial ruin and broken from failing to free his only son, died without Aamir knowing about it. His mother, struck down by a brain haemorrhage, lost her voice and became paralytic.

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Charged with terror, damned by aliases: When Aamir, now 32, finally walked free, he had been acquitted in 18 of the 20 terror cases — an astonishing acknowledgement of the lack of evidence against him. 

Indeed without a single witness in any of the cases connecting him to the blasts, the trial court — which acquitted him in 17 cases — came up with the same line on each judgment day: “there is absolutely no incriminating evidence against the accused.” The Delhi High Court which overturned one of the three cases that went into appeal said: “the prosecution has miserably failed to adduce any evidence to connect the accused appellant with the charges framed, much less prove them.” 

His case reinforces the demand for urgent police reforms.